If what you are calling "parlour board" is the eucalyptus particle board at your local big box store, I would advise against it. As your trailer rattles down the road, it will literally turn to dust. Also, the finishes on those boards are *extremely* thin, and once they scratch, they are impossible to make look new, and even more susceptible to decay. They also don't hold a screw (or better yet, a rivet). They just fall apart where you fasten them to the wall. You'll have better luck riveting them over the old aluminum skins in combination with contact cement (like for laminating counters), but it sounds like there weren't any when you got it.

If parlour board is something else, let us know what you mean, and I'll adjust my response! ;-)

I know it's more expensive, but your best bet really is ordering aluminum from an aircraft supply house. It's a lot less daunting than it sounds, and they ship it to your house in a 4'wide roll up to 12' long.

If what you are calling "parlour board" is the eucalyptus particle board at your local big box store, I would advise against it. As your trailer rattles down the road, it will literally turn to dust. Also, the finishes on those boards are *extremely* thin, and once they scratch, they are impossible to make look new, and even more susceptible to decay. They also don't hold a screw (or better yet, a rivet). They just fall apart where you fasten them to the wall. You'll have better luck riveting them over the old aluminum skins in combination with contact cement (like for laminating counters), but it sounds like there weren't any when you got it.

If parlour board is something else, let us know what you mean, and I'll adjust my response! ;-)

It's a polypropylene here is a link
http://m.molevalleyfarmers.com/h5/r/molevalleyfarmers/mvf/info/farming/Parlour_Ceiling_Board
Not sure if that was the same thing you meant ?

I know it's more expensive, but your best bet really is ordering aluminum from an aircraft supply house. It's a lot less daunting than it sounds, and they ship it to your house in a 4'wide roll up to 12' long.

That was my thought too
Im in the UK and having a hard time finding anything larger than a 4 x8 foot sheet,seems that is the standard here.
Shipping from the states is not an option due to import cost.
Am still waiting for a reply from one company though.

Wow! That parlour board looks interesting. Never heard of it before, here in the US. If you check through the Forums, you can find that many folks have used variants of 1/8" plywood to good success. I'm assuming that since this stuff is used in dairies, it must be fairly strong and easy to keep clean. Sort of a poor-man's stainless steel?

From your pic, it looks like the ceiling/upper walls are pretty clean, that it's mostly the lower walls that you need the cover. I think that the parlour board would work best if it's installed in a place that you can put a curve into it. With a curved installation, it'll probably be nice and rigid. Because it's only 1/8", installed flat would probably be floppy and be able to deform when pressing on it. I would suggest at least 1/4" material in a flat application, or the 1/8" laminated to a backing sheet.

I used a heavily textured industrial paint (Zolatone FLEX) to paint over the stained interior skin, and it worked well. Hid a wide variety of sins!

I'm not a fan of interior aluminum skins, although I'd be the first to admit that the polished ones look cool as all get-out. The more that you can break the mechanical link to the exterior skin, the more insulated the inside will be. Many folks use rubber gasket material between the ribs and the metal skin, or change out the skins to wood. I've got wood skins in the bedroom, and it's noticeably cooler in there. Here in S. Florida, the interior can easily get to 110F on a summer day with no A/C!

Ultimately, I'd say go with whatever pleases you that can hold a screw/rivet well, and is as light weight as possible. The parlour board looks a bit bland to me, I like the warmth (visually) and yachtiness of varnished wood. But that's just me!

Wow! That parlour board looks interesting. Never heard of it before, here in the US. If you check through the Forums, you can find that many folks have used variants of 1/8" plywood to good success. I'm assuming that since this stuff is used in dairies, it must be fairly strong and easy to keep clean. Sort of a poor-man's stainless steel?

From your pic, it looks like the ceiling/upper walls are pretty clean, that it's mostly the lower walls that you need the cover. I think that the parlour board would work best if it's installed in a place that you can put a curve into it. With a curved installation, it'll probably be nice and rigid. Because it's only 1/8", installed flat would probably be floppy and be able to deform when pressing on it. I would suggest at least 1/4" material in a flat application, or the 1/8" laminated to a backing sheet.

I used a heavily textured industrial paint (Zolatone FLEX) to paint over the stained interior skin, and it worked well. Hid a wide variety of sins!

I'm not a fan of interior aluminum skins, although I'd be the first to admit that the polished ones look cool as all get-out. The more that you can break the mechanical link to the exterior skin, the more insulated the inside will be. Many folks use rubber gasket material between the ribs and the metal skin, or change out the skins to wood. I've got wood skins in the bedroom, and it's noticeably cooler in there. Here in S. Florida, the interior can easily get to 110F on a summer day with no A/C!

Ultimately, I'd say go with whatever pleases you that can hold a screw/rivet well, and is as light weight as possible. The parlour board looks a bit bland to me, I like the warmth (visually) and yachtiness of varnished wood. But that's just me!

Hello thanks so much for your detailed reply.

We will be replacing the wood interior with wood again. Oits was wood all the way up as far as you can see removed.
The aluminium ceiling has me stumped, I wonder if it is there for structural integrity ?
It's in alot worse shale than it looks with tons of holes.
The coating is covered in black mould which I have scrubbed off with bleach, but has stained it .

From everything I've read here and elsewhere, the interior aluminum skin is there as part of the monocoque design, meaning it's structurally important. If you're planning on pulling your trailer somewhere to leave it as a cottage or cabin, I say go for the wood. If you're wanting to tow it all over the country or this entire continent, and you don't want it to shake apart, pop rivet aluminum back into it. For the way I plan to use a trailer I'll stick to aluminum. If when I'm looking for a future project and I see a unit re-finished in wood (even though I'm an avid woodworker) the seller would see nothing but my back. There's no telling how much other damage was done fastening a wood interior to the ribs of that unit.
If you don't like a shiny interior wall, paint it, wall paper it, apply self adhesive vinyl or add your layer of paneling over to top of it, but I don't believe you should ever consider wood a replacement for aluminum.

From everything I've read here and elsewhere, the interior aluminum skin is there as part of the monocoque design, meaning it's structurally important. If you're planning on pulling your trailer somewhere to leave it as a cottage or cabin, I say go for the wood. If you're wanting to tow it all over the country or this entire continent, and you don't want it to shake apart, pop rivet aluminum back into it. For the way I plan to use a trailer I'll stick to aluminum. If when I'm looking for a future project and I see a unit re-finished in wood (even though I'm an avid woodworker) the seller would see nothing but my back. There's no telling how much other damage was done fastening a wood interior to the ribs of that unit.
If you don't like a shiny interior wall, paint it, wall paper it, apply self adhesive vinyl or add your layer of paneling over to top of it, but I don't believe you should ever consider wood a replacement for aluminum.

J. M. H. O.

Jim

Hi Jim

I can totally see what you're saying and will take that advice on board.

This trailer came out of the factory with only aluminium on the ceilings and floor to ceiling on the back wall.
The rest was a very flimsy and wood board.

Trying to source aluminium more than 4x8 foot is not possible in the UK. Just received the last email from a company I contacted.
Total bummer, but will have to work around it.

At this point I am thinking I will try and salvage as much of the old aluminium as possible, and try and get the textured coating off.
It's only coated on one side, but due to the amount of holes in it, flipping it isn't an option.

Now would be a good time to spray the Exterior walls of the Airstream with a hose while someone inside is looking for leaks. Work from the bottom up. Make sure you hit the lights too
Hate to see you put it all together and later Discover water leaks.
PleAse show us the finished project

Interesting. I'd love to see some of that stuff first hand. I did see in a forum discussing laser cutting the material that it melts at 300 degrees F, so I wonder about how soft it would get sitting in the noon-day Colorado sun (not that you really need to worry about that in the UK). ;-)

To your question about strength, yes, the aluminum in the ceiling definitely contributes to the strength of the trailer, though people use plywood fairly regularly. The main thing to think about is how it will fasten to the ribs, and making sure the attachment points don't "pop" or "pull." Obviously a leak onto wood is also much more visible and damaging than a leak dripping on aluminum.

I often order rolled (depending upon the thickness) aluminum from AircraftSpruce here in the states. A rolled 4x8 sheet costs $48 shipped by UPS. I don't know if they could ship across the Atlantic though.

FWIW, if cleaned well, the vinyl coated aluminum panels actually take rolled primer and paint quite well. I actually like the added protection of that vinyl coating, so if it's in good shape, I tend to use those vinyl coated aluminum skins where I can.

Finally, do as much as you can while those panels are off! Insulation is obviously very important (I would recommend closed cell spray foam or polyisocyanurate panels). Running electrical (both shore power and 12v) and *venting* to the roof for plumbing is key. Also think about placing some kind of thermal break on the ribs when reattaching the interior skins. I use rolls of 1/8" thick closed cell foam, but epdm rubber sheeting or something similar can also work.

This trailer does not look like an Airstream to me. My guess is that it is a Silver Streak or Avion (older). Construction on these units was similar, but different.

You're absolutely right.
She's a 32 foot Silver Streak, and they were made slightly differently from what I understand.
Have tried looking on the dedicated silver streak fourm in their archives but nothing of any use.

Now would be a good time to spray the Exterior walls of the Airstream with a hose while someone inside is looking for leaks. Work from the bottom up. Make sure you hit the lights too
Hate to see you put it all together and later Discover water leaks.
PleAse show us the finished project

Jbknowso

Here's a progress picture.
Surprising how quickly everything came out.
The most time consuming were the ceiling panels as we want to try and refurbish them.
Everyone's advice on here for aluminium has been noted.
The ceiling panels are almost all in one long piece of aluminium.
And they dont have too many holes in those piieces, so we will try and reuse them.
There's no way we will ever find pieces that long, so hopefully they are okay to use again

Washed the roof down and it looks as if there are only 2 leaks.
I have some captain tooleys do you think that will seal them ?